Kami no Itte
by ButterflyAngel64
Summary: In order to be the strongest, one must play someone stronger. Hikaru had constantly played against one of the best players of all times, Fujwarano Sai. However, what happens when Hikaru receives guidance THE best player of all times... Kami-sama himself?


Disclaimer: _Hikaru no Go _belongs to Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi.

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Title: **Kami no Itte**

The First Match: Watashi wa Kami-sama…

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Translations:

Kami no Itte – The Hand of God

Gomen – sorry

Goban – a 19 x 19 Go board with intercepting lines and nine star points

Demo – but

Sugoi – awesome

Matte – wait

Watashi wa Kami-sama – I am God

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_Sai, not much has happened since the Hokuto Cup… but don't worry I'm still advancing… however slowly. Now, I can finally have matches against higher dan level players. I'm taking the first step… towards achieving your goal… towards achieving _our_ goal… of playing the divine move!_

"…in..."

"Shi…"

"…do…"

"Shindou!"

"Waaa… What?!" Shindou looked around incredulously, finally landing his eyes on fellow pro, Waya Yoshitaka.

"Were you spacing out again?" shaking his head, Waya sighed. "And I was hoping that you'll have a greater concentration span after you've become pro."

Feeling insulted Shindou quickly defended himself. "But I do have a great concentration span. How else I could win any of my matches?!"

"Oh really." Waya eyed Shindou skeptically. "What were we talking about just now?"

That question caught Shindou by surprise. "Uh… Go…?"

_I feel a "Shindou Headache" coming on_, Waya thought, rubbing his temple. Yes, these types of headaches were so common to him that he felt the need to name it. Of course, how could he not name it after the person that founded such an annoying menace? Just for good measure, Waya hit Shindou on the head. _If _my_ head hurts because of him, why shouldn't _his_ head hurt as well?_

"Hey, what was that for?!" Shindou yelled angrily.

"For being an idiot!"

Waya watched for a while as Shindou was rubbing his head, glaring at him. "Now, listen up. Did you hear about the latest news in China? No, wait. Of course, you haven't."

Shindou glared at Waya some more. What else could he do since what he said was true?

"It seems that someone from Japan defeated _all_ the pros in China, and he's moving ahead to Korea. After that it's said that he plans to come back to Japan to take down all the pros here as well! And…" Waya looked at him only to see that his attention was directed elsewhere… again. "Hey, Shindou! Are you listening to me?!"

Waya wondered what could have caught his attention, so he followed Shindou's eyes only to look across the road several yards from where they stand. There he saw a man playing Go by himself, while the others were having matches with their partners. He was younger than most of the people here, probably in his twenties or at most his early thirties. There wasn't anything flashy about this man; nothing about him that made him stand out except perhaps his long hair tied behind the nape of his neck, but there was definitely an aurora about him which draws people to him. _Who is he?_

_Pachi_

"Huh?" Waya looked around seeing that he had dazed off just like Shindou.

_Great.__ Now, his bad habits are rubbing off on me too._

Waya noticed that the man was surrounded with people by the time he came to. He was too far away to hear what the people around him were saying though. _Wait a minute… Where's Shindou?!_ Waya franticly searched for his friend. _We have a game in a couple of minutes! Where could he have gone off to?! That Shindou!_ It was then that Waya noticed that Shindou had made his way towards the crowd.

_It couldn't be him… Could it?_ Shindou fought through the crowd trying to get to… _him_. _It has to be…_

"Sai!"

The man turned his head to look at a boy with bleached bangs.

_No… No, this isn't Sai._ What Shindou saw in front of him was man dressed in a white shirt tucked inside black jeans. There were some features of him that resembled Sai; however, this man looked more masculine.

After Shindou got over his disappointment, he noticed that this man was still staring at him as if he was expecting something. "Ah… Gomen! I just thought you were a friend of mine," said Shindou, sheepishly.

The man smiled and said, "That's quite alright. However, I would feel honored if you would comment about this game I just replayed." The man gestured to the goban on the table in front of him.

"Ah… sure…"

_I didn't even notice that he was playing a game to begin with._ Shindou looked at goban… and his eyes widened. _This is…_

"Did you play this?" Shindou asked.

The man nodded. "Indeed, I did. I was white."

"Sugoi!"

"I could hardly read how it started off!"

"I want a match!"

Shindou didn't hear what the others around him were saying. He didn't even hear the man's response, if he made any. All he could see, all he could think about, was the board in front of him. _Black played extremely well. His moves are very solid and refined… just like Sai's was… Demo…_ Shindou looked up at the man in front of him, staring hardly at him almost to the point of glaring, trying to read deep down into his soul… and he stared right back unflinchingly. _White is better… much better…_

"Black… Who played black?!"

The urgency of the question caught everyone by surprise, shocking them into silence. They looked at the man sitting across the table waiting for his answer. Even though black lost, he was still very good, perhaps good enough to even go after the retired Meijin himself. But if that were the case, then white has an even better chance of beating him.

"A friend," the man answered simply.

"What was his name?"

Shindou felt tense. The air around him felt so thick that a knife could have cut through it. _It has to be him… Sai…_

The man closed his eyes as if he was thinking about his answer. The answer should have come simply enough; it was a simple question, but at the same time, it wasn't. Shindou could only wait patiently for his answer. When he opened his eyes again, he had the look of someone who just reached a reasonable answer.

"Honinbo Shuusaku."

They blinked twice, before bursting out into laughter. Everywhere there only seemed to be a resounding echo. Everyone around the two was laughing their heads off. Some were even holding onto their stomachs.

"That was a good one! You almost had us fooled with that expression of yours! As if the real Honinbo Shuusaku could actually play Go with you when he died nearly two hundred years ago!"

No one noticed, but _he_ did. When Waya finally caught up to Shindou, he overheard what they were talking about, but too many people were in the way so he still couldn't see the goban. _He _is_ being serious and Shindou… even if it sounds crazy… Shindou believes him… But to have Shindou this riled up, it must have been quite a match… if only I could take a look at the goban…_

Waya heard his watch beeping, and he suddenly remembered. "Ahhh! Shindou, if we don't leave right now, we'll be late for our first match! Come on!" Waya grabbed Shindou by his backpack and tried dragging him off.

"Matte, Waya!"

Shindou tried struggling out of Waya's grip, but it was no use. _I still need to ask him some more questions! When did they play? Where is he? Why did he leave? So many questions to ask and absolutely no answers…_ Shindou looked up to meet the man's eyes once more, determined. _…until now…_

Unaffected, the man smiled and said, "Don't worry. I'll wait for you."

"You will…?" Shindou asked, disbelief clearly written on his face. When he nodded, Shindou noticed that he probably seemed very rude. "Gomen, but I have a lot of questions to ask. I'm Hikaru by the way. Watashi wa Shindou Hikaru. What's your name?"

"Come on, Shindou! We don't have time for introductions!" Waya grabbed for Shindou's hair this time and started pulling at it.

"Waya!"

Even after Shindou had wedged Waya's offending hands off his hair and started running towards the Japanese Go Institute, he could still hear an answer somewhere along the wind. "Watashi wa Kami-sama…"


End file.
